District Heating Digital Canopy

District Heating provides a critical capability for the UK to increase the capital, operational and carbon efficiency of domestic heating systems, deliver Carbon Budget 5 and export CHP generated electricity to improve security of supply. Optimal energy system efficiency is achieved by using technology that is able to predict and control the heat demand and heat generation factoring in external electricity system requirements. Today’s heat networks are sized and operated against assumed models of demand and respond to changes in demand patterns reactively. Passiv previously demonstrated the technology that enables heating networks to proactively control the demand profile in order to improve the operating performance of district heating plant, delivering a 44% reduction in annual opex costs and reducing costs on a (25 yr, 6%) NPV basis by 30% from the counterfactual scenario. This project takes that technology to operational readiness and extends it to allow demand control, generation and storage to be orchestrated to maximise operational and carbon efficiency. The heat network operator will use generation and storage plant to both deliver heat and to optimise energy generation and heat consumption against the opportunities for value creation from the electricity market. Optimising the coordinated control of these cloud-connected assets at the same time as managing the demand profile will reduce operating costs, increase revenue from energy sales and energy services, and reduce the carbon intensity of the energy system. The District Heating Digital Canopy Project will, for the first time, install advanced load control capability into all end points on a district heating network. This will give a comprehensive view of the value of demand optimisation. The project will develop the advanced controls required to coordinate demand, generation and heat storage assets to achieve best value and will demonstrate this in the field. Modelling of the system and the results obtained will assess the potential value of this solution when applied to other district heating schemes. The analysis will then be used to quantify the potential value to the UK economy and to the UK’s carbon reduction obligations. Finally, the project will produce a detailed business model explaining the commercialisation approach, including routes to funding for volume deployment. The project is led by PassivSystems, a leading innovator in heating control systems, with support from Buro Happold. PassivSystems is a leading provider of domestic energy services and has invested in excess of £25m in developing a connected home services platform (PassivEnergy) that is providing energy monitoring and control solutions into existing domestic heating and rooftop solar generation markets. The flexible and scalable nature of PassivEnergy makes it ideally suited for the emerging residential demand management markets for which current technology solutions provide limited and siloed capabilities. Buro Happold has a wealth of experience of evaluating and prioritising district energy opportunities for both conventional district energy systems and more innovative approaches such as low temperature heat networks with heat pumps. They have undertaken district heating projects at all stages and have experience of innovation and added value through utilisation of advanced technical software.